Ncuti Gatwa’s decision to leave Doctor Who after only two seasons prompted extensive reshoots early this year, fans believe.
Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor was given his swansong in this weekend’s Doctor Who season finale, in a shocking climax which saw The Doctor regenerate into a new incarnation played by Billie Piper.
But fans believe this ending was clearly not the series’ original plan, and Gatwa’s decision to leave after only 18 episodes prompted something of a rethink.
Let’s travel back in time to this time last year, when Gatwa was still demonstrating enthusiasm for continuing on in the coveted role. At this point, filming for the recent season finale was being completed (fans tracking location shooting believe in May 2024), and the series had episodes in the can to last for another 12 months.
In April 2024, in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Gatwa said he would be “so angry if I never face a Dalek.” (Only one other Doctor, Paul McGann’s briefly-seen Eighth Doctor, has not.)
“By the time that I’m done with Doctor Who, I better have faced a Dalek,” Gatwa continued. “What on earth would be the point of me being Doctor Who without facing a Dalek!”
But later last year, an appearance by Gatwa on the BBC’s Graham Norton Show raised eyebrows when a comment about his still-to-be-confirmed third season was cut from transmission. The audience in the room reportedly heard Gatwa state that season three would film in 2025 — however this comment was trimmed from the version of the show ulimately broadcast.
The BBC’s Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies has maintained that the decision to make further episodes with co-production partner Disney was always set to be made now, following the conclusion of the second season airing. But this situation — even if resolved immediately — has left the show on a production hiatus, with no new episodes expected to be ready much before 2027.
Roll forward to February 2025, and fans who track Doctor Who location filming spotted that the show’s production had resumed, although not on new episodes. Instead, additional location shooting for this season’s finale took place for the scenes set in the house and garden of companion Belinda Chandra, in the ending viewers saw at the weekend where Gatwa’s Doctor bids her farewell, before heading off in his TARDIS to regenerate.
Clearly, this block of shooting — nearly a year after the original production wrapped, and only three months before transmission — was not a minor venture. Behind the scenes footage aired during the finale’s accompanying Doctor Who Unleashed documentary shows that Gatwa’s final day of shooting was back on the UNIT set, with many returning cast members present. And, of course, Gatwa’s regeneration sequence featured an appearance by former Doctor Jodie Whittaker — another apparently late addition.
All of this means the final third of the finale was likely affected by reshoots — everything from when Gatwa’s Doctor leaves UNIT initially to try and save Poppy via a hastily-hatched plan. It’s only at this point viewers first get a sense that Gatwa is planning to regenerate on purpose, with later scenes then establishing his time as Fifteen is definitely coming to an end.
Word of Gatwa’s departure leaked in recent weeks from an account on YouTube that accurately spoiled every major plot point from the whole season (including Mrs Flood’s identity, Whittaker’s return, Omega, and the bigeneration of The Rani). This account claims the original ending to the episode would have left the characters celebrating victory at a party, while the mysterious Susan (now left as a dangling plot thread) looked on, setting up the next season.
There’s other evidence of this older ending — now presumably locked away in the BBC’s vault, never to see light of day. Last week, Disney+ uploaded a promotional photo for the finale showing the Doctor and Belinda dancing at a party, in a scene that never made the final version of the episode. Fans expect that this was the party scene mentioned by the leaker, from the episode’s original ending.
And then there’s the matter of Belinda’s father, whose actor highlighted his upcoming appearance in the season seemingly unaware his scenes had been entirely cut. Belinda still makes it home in the finale’s final 20 minutes, but her father is explained as elsewhere, again pointing to another change in plot.
📺The new season of Doctor Who premieres this weekend on BBC One and streaming on BBC iPlayer.
⭐ARCHIE LAL as HARI CHANDRA.#SuperClients pic.twitter.com/hDRuLwLnot— Keddie Scott Associates (@keddiescott) April 11, 2025
Despite an uneven run of episodes over the last two seasons, Doctor Who remains one of the BBC’s biggest brands, and it is highly likely to return in the coming years. Indeed, a report by The Mirror’s ever-reliable Doctor Who reporter Nicola Methven has suggested a third season is assured, though exactly when it will go into production is yet to be decided.
Fans believe it’s likely that this uncertainty over timings contibuted to Gatwa’s decision to leave now and pursue other projects, rather than keep his schedule open indefinitely.
Gatwa’s career certainly feels to be on the rise — from becoming the breakout star in Sex Education to featuring in the hit Barbie movie. Among fans, there has always been a sense that Gatwa’s time in the TARDIS would likely be limited, as Hollywood came calling, though with just 18 episodes under his belt, many believe a third season would ensured his tenure never felt too brief.
Photo by Tommaso Boddi/GA/The Hollywood Reporter via Getty Images.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
